Sterilization and treatment of food using low concentrations of ozone



' R. NAGY ETAL Filed Nov. l5, 1940 INVENToRs KUDLPA/ NHG Y #19K/EX FA//JC//ZEZ v ORN EY BY Y @MQ ATT uw ,.m.

STERILIZATION AND TREATMENT OF' FOOD USING LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF OZONE Jan.

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Patented Jan. V18, 1944 sTEnmzATroN AND TREATMENT oF noon USING Low ooNcENTnAT-.roNs or ozoNn Rudolph Nagy, mamada, aha nam, c. nent? schler, East-Orange, N. J.. assigner: to Weet` y u Linghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsyl'f Application Notemher 1s, 1mm-serial No. 365,444

s claim. icl. aro-1)'- This invention relates to sterilization and the ozone er' chacunes quality.v auch a ,lamp in, desirabiyplaeec la acuer through which treatment of food, and especially to a medidos.- tion of a method and apparatus for tenderizing meat, `following generally the teachings of the and owned by the Westinghouse Electric Manu. facturing Company.

The principal object of our, invention, generally Y considered, is to treat food, and especially meat such as beef. to inhibit bacterial and mold growth will never be ,very However. to prevent a' or sterilize the surface thereof to prevent spoilage condition,l whereby :the building up ,of anV abd while being tencern-ieri.r p normal amountl of 'oloneinthe air might occur,

Another object of our invention is to 'provide a special filter is deairablrplaced in the intake i a method or food sterilization, particularly opening to the apparatus. This' adapted for use in connection with the quick filter may bemad'e: ddgiaes wool impregnated tenderization of meat. p with manganese which-acts as a catalytic f A further objectl of our invention, is the emagent in deccmpodjblli Oxygen- Such l ployment of concentrations of `ozone between illter will, therefore. over long periods of one-tenth and one part perfmillion for relatively time. V'I'he concentrationljot ozone.' however.' is i long periods of time, such yas from twenty to 2 0 readily controlled by adjustment ofthe Y fortyvv hours, or continually, rather than higher ozone generator andaircirculation. concentrationsfor short periods of time, to In the James Patent No. 2,169,081, previously effect surface sterilization of foodstuffs, includreferred t0. there il diwlkd Mid clalmed Drocing more especially beef. Q ess for the treatment of meat in order to tender- A still further `object of our invention ls the 2,5 ize the same at an increased, speed. while at the provision oi' apparatus for efficiently lenerating' sameltime avoiding the development of bacteria and controlling the concentration of ozone, as" vand mold on the surface'of said meat. The procfor use in surface sterilization of foodstuffs, and. s p essof said patent has proved very successful, and especially meat during tenderization thereof. apparatus such as disclosed is successfully used Otheroblects and advantages of the invention, so for the purpose. In accordance with our invenrelatlng tothe particular arrangement and contion,'we propose to follow generally the teach- Y struction of the various parts, will become apparings 'of said patent, and the improvementapplicaentasthe description proceeds. tion, ,Serial No. 316,496, filed January 31, 1940,

Ihe bactericidal and fungicidal action oi' ozoner .by Paul B. Christensen for Method and appaf (Oa) has been known for a long time; and this ratus for treating food, and owned by the as-` knowledge has been put to a limited use. The l signes of the presentapplication, using low conf. ozone concentrations generally employed are very .eentrations of ozone in place of the ultra-violet high, vthat is, between about two and sixty-Eve radiation, and thereby making it possible to sub` hundred parts per million. yConcentrations of 'fstitute Aa single quartz lamp or other ozonizer for two to live parts per million have been used in 4 the `sterilizing`,ultra-violet lamps as employedin cold storage plants. Such amounts of ozone areconnection withfthe' method. of the patent and usable only for short periods, one hour,v 'for exapplication referred to. ample, twice adayandat such times `when em-v` In the drawing, the slnglegure is' avertical ployees were not in the coolers. Higher concensectional viewv oi' a refrigerator or meat-treating trations are impractical. f' 45 compartment embodyingand including meansy In accordance withl our invention, we employ for practicing our invention'. i a concentration of ozone of between one-tenth Referring to the drawing in. detail, there .is i and one part per million, for example, about oneshown a fragmentary portion ofy a commercial half part per million. Such ozone may be genmeat tenderizing compartment or cooler I I, proerated by any known means, such'as an ozonizer "o vided with rails I2, onwhich meat carriages I3 which produces no oxides of nitrogen, but pref'- travel, said carriages being desirably provided erably by'a cold quartz lamp, that is, a low preswith hooks or other meat-holding means Il, from sure quartz mercury discharge lamp or one genwhich normally suspend carcasses or pieces of erating an appreciable proportion of ultra-violet meat or beef I5. radiations below 2000 A. U. in order to efficiently The compartment II may be entered through Ian- Dronten passes tol-be osonized, drawn thereand mixed with; the air circulated in the orother'ioo'd is held. Y i Ther-litro! an ozone molecule is relatively shortatmost about one-halihour in meat roomsl and. therefor-c,- theconcentraticn ot this agent kJames Patent No. 2,169,081, rdated August 8, 1939,' 'e'.l'etri'g'erator. or other" 'compartmenhdn' which' The desired temperature of above 45 F., and.

preferably above about 55 F., or about 60 F. is

maintained in the compartment by circulating air from the room through theunit I8, as by means of a fan or blower I9. The air enters unit I6 through inlet 24, covered by means for transforming ozone into oxygen, such as a glass wool filter 2| impregnated vwith manganese dioxide, which acts as a catalytic agent for the purpose. The air then passes upward through water spray 22, in which it is cooled to the desired temperature, preferably about 56 F. or about 4 lower than the desired temperature ci' the air in said compartment, at the same time being saturated toapproximately.95% relative humidity by said spray, after which it passes again into the compartment I I through duct or system 23. i

J'I'he water which forms the spray'22 is forced from a reservoir 24. asby means of pump 25 driven by motor 28, through pipe 21. It is maintained at a desired constant temperature of about 56 F., asl by cooling coil 28, through which ows cold brine circulatedy as by means of pump 29. The temperature of water 24, and consequently that of the spray 22, is 'desirably regulated by instrument'v I8, which is actuated by the temperature-sensitive bulb 3|, located in the reservoir of spray water 24. The instrument I8, in turn, -actua'tes the three-way mixing `valve. 32, as by means of compressed air, from air pressure supply tank line 33 to branch' line 34. ',Ihe air in the line 34 acts on the diaphragm 35 when desired, and moves the valve lever 36 to introduce more or less of the cold brine from the supply pipe31 to the circulating pipe 38, which connects with the cooling coil 28, whereby the temperature of said cold coil corresponds with the needed temperature of the spray water for maintaining a desired tenderizing-temperature of about 60 F. in the compartment II. The'operation of the instrument I8 is such that when the, spray water in the reservoir 24 is at the desired temperature, no compressed air is admitted to the pipe 34, so that the valve 32 is closed entirely against brine from the cold supply through pipe 31 and opened entirely for recirculating in the line 38. When, however, the

temperature of the water in the reservoir is too high, compressed air is allowed to ilow through pipe 34 to act on the diaphragm 35` and turn the` lever 38 of the valve 32, allowing more or less,v

of the cold brine to iiow from the supplyvthrough pipe 31 into the system through pipe 38, until the brine circulated by the pump 29 is at the desired temperature, An amount of brine equal to that introduced by the three-way valve 32, ilows'back to the cold brine supply through the return pipe 38. By thus maintaining the water spray at a constant temperature of desirably about 4 less than that of the air in the compartment, or say 56 F., the dew point of the air leaving the unit through duct system 23 is maintained constant. This is dependent on having a sufficient quantity of spray 22 to saturate the air'to about 95% when .link 5I, pivoted to the free end of lever 41 and to damper 44.

`when yan passing over the bu1b 4| is ai e desired control temperature oi' say 60 F., the

bulb 4l controls the instrument I1 so that it allows a certain ydeilnite air pressure, say 1% pounds per square inch, to be supplied to branch line 52 from the main air supply 33, in which the pressure -is desirably from 15 to 17 pounds per` square inch. With this 7%: pound sauge pressure in line l2, steam valvej42 is adjusted so as to be in closed position, and damper motor 43 is adjusted so as to holdV the lever 41 in its neutral position which, inv turn, holds damper 44 in its horizontal or closed position.

When the refrigerator load in the compartment II is at a minimum. that is, when meat to be tenderized has reached normal tenderizing temperature, the damper 44 is in its horizontal position. The auxiliary'damper 53 is then kset by hand to such a position as to allow just sumcient air to pass from unit I8 through duct system 23 into the compartment Ii to maintain the desired temperature therein.

A If the temperature of the air passing over bulb 4I increases, said bulb actuates instrument I1 in such a manner as to allow the pressure oi' the air on the line 82 to increase. This actuates damperl motor 43 to move lever 41 and damper from its `rclosed position to an inclined or open position, thus allowing more air to pass into duct system 23 and from there back into the compartment I I, to reduce the temperature therein while keeping steam valve 42 closed.

Ii' the temperature of the air passing over bulb 4I is lowered to the control point, that is to 60 F., for example, the entire mechanism will return toits original position with the damper 44 horizontal. If the temperature of the air passing over the bulb 4I falls below the control point,

' as when a new supply of refrigerated or chilled beef is introduced into the compartment II, the

bulb 4I actuates instrument I1 in such a manner as to decrease the air pressure in branch line 52 below '7l/g pounds as the air passes through the instrument from supply line 33. This reduction in air pressure allows the diaphragm I4 of the steam valve controlling motor 55 to move upwardly under the action of spring 56, and open the valve 42, admitting steam to the heating 7 coil 51. vAt the same time the reduction oi.' air pressure in line 52 actuatesv damper motor 43, moving damper 44 from its horizontal or closed position toward an'inclined or "open position.

a normal tenderized temperature and, at the same time, avoids a condensation of any appreciable or undesirable amount of moisture on said meat during the warming up period. y

Inasmuch as the present invention involves a modification of the method disclosed in the James patent previously referred to, and one of the primary objects is to make it possible to tenderize beef and other meat in a shorter time than in accordance with the old hanging method, it is essential that an inhibitor of aerobic growths shall be used. In other words, at the substanmined and controlled that the ozone concentratween one-tenth and one part per million, or preferably approximately in the neighborhood of onelialf part per million, whereby the surface of the meat or other food in the compartment is maintained `nearly free from bacteria and other micro-organisms during a tenderizing period of say about two or three days.

We iind that by applying the ozone continu-l ously over a long period of time the action is more effective than is possible with higher concentration for a correspondingly shorter time, both in inhibiting bacterial and mold growth, as well as in destroying the bacteria and mold spores. Thus a concentration of one part per ten million for twenty hours isV more eiective than to use a concentration of two parts per million for one hour.

The flow of air through the duct 23 creates a suction on the duct 85, withdrawingthe ozone therefrom, as generated by the discharge lamp tial increase in temperature at which meat is held for tenderizing purposes, it is not possible, without such means. to prevent rapid aerobic growths and we, therefore, propose to use inhibiting means to prevent spoilage due to surface deterioration from such growths, which are either present on the 'meat as received in the compartment, or may be deposited thereon from the air.

The surface growth inhibiting means proposed,

.in accordance with` our invention, is an ozone generator 59, which maybe a silent electric-discharge ozonizer, but is preferably a low' pressure mercury discharge lamp having a quartz envelope enclosing electrodes 8| and 82, one at each end thereoi', and actuated from a suitable source of power through leads 63 and 64.` Such a generator is disposed in a duct 65, which may open inside, butpreferably outside of the compartment i I through louvres 8S, or receive air from a blower or the like. However, inasmuch as the discharge end of the duct 65 opens into the duct system 23, no means for driving air through the-duct Si, other than the suction created by the air movement in said duct system, is necessary for drawing air over the ozone generator 59 and on into said system. A valve 61 in the duct 65 is desirably provided for controlling the ilow of air therein t will be understood that the ozone generator 59, although shown in a duct separate from the system 23, may, if desired be positioned in said system. However, it is preferable to enclose the generator 59 in a separate duct for two reasons; ilrst, the flow `of air thereover is more accurately controlled; and second, it is preferable to ozonize dry air and then introduce it into the humidified duct system, rather than ozonize the moist air initially.

It will be understood that we contemplate, not only drawing air from the compartment for recirculation over the ozonev generator, or dry 'air or gas comprising oxygen from the outside of the compartment over the ozone generator, or forcing such dry gas by a, blower or other means over said generator and on into the duct system 23, but also artificially drying said air before introduction to the duct 65, or ozonizing a mixture of fresh and recirculated air, if conditions make it necessary or desirable.

In operating the apparatus herein described, the size of the generator 59, the energy put into it, and the ow of air thereover, are so deteril, at the same time diluting, and humidifying it to the proper extent by' admixing the ozonized air with the humidified air produced in the apparatus I 6.y On. account of the relatively small amount of ozonized dry air drawn in from the duct 65, the initial humidiilcation of the air need only be slightly increased, as by increasing the volume of the water spray 22, over that without such admixture of dry air, to have the desired final humidiflcation in the compartment Ii.

Although we have disclosed our-invention particularly adapted for the termici-izationofl meat, itwill be understood that 'it' mayy bsem- .Dloyed in vany manner where it-is desiredto sterilize the surface of material, .such as food,l i

and free the same from micro-organisms. such as bacteria and molds, or inhibit the growth of such organismsthereon.

Although 'a preferred embodiment rV our in:

ventiomhas'been disclosed, it will be understood that-modifications may be made within the spirit ,ofthe appended claims.

InIAnI-rapparatus for treating and/or storing meat.'lthe-combinatlon of a compartment having air-distributing ducts, 'a normally closed damper for controlling the flow of air in said ducts, air conditioning means disposed in said'compartment and comprising a chamber connected to said ducts and having a reservoir oi' water disposed in the `bottom thereof, a blower in the top thereof for circulating air from said compartment through said chamber over said water and distributing it to said compartment through said ducts, spray nozzles disposed between said water and blower, means for drawing` water from said reservoir and discharging it through said nozzles to humidify the circulating air and return to said reservoir, means in said compartment for controlling the temperature of said water, temperature-sensitive means immersed in said water to govern the action of said controlling means, a

' cooling coil in the path of spray from said nozzles, said controllingmeans causing circulation 4 of more or less cooling fluid to said cooling coil to keep the reservoir of water at substantially uniform temperature in accordance with the action of said sensitive means, a heating coll disposed between said nozzles and blower, a temperature controller disposed in said compartment, sensitive means in the inlet to said chamber for causing said temperature controller to eil'ect the admission of heating fluid to saidv heating coil when the temperature of the air in said Ainlet is reduced below apredeterrnined point and simultaneously open said damper to allow increased circulation through said ducts to bring the temperature in said compartment back to normal, means for feeding a predetermined proportion of dry ozonized air into said air-distributing ducts for mixing with the humidified air, and means in the inlet to said chamber for de-ozonizing air to avoid building up too high a concentration of ozone in said compartment.

2. The method of treating meat comprising moving the same while chilled into a, compartment having air-distributing ducts 'and `conditioning means disposed therein and comprising a chamber` connected to said ducts and containing water while a blower in the top thereof circu` lates air from said compartment through said chamber over ysaid water and distributes it to said compartment through said ducts, introducing a predetermined proportion .of dry ozonized air to said circulating air, circulating and spraying said water to humidify said circulating air, cooling said waterwith means automatically controlled as to temperature and disposed in the spray, automatically energizing heating means in the chamber when the temperature of the air entering said chamber is reduced below a predetermined point, simultaneously increasing the air circulation through said ducts to bring the tem perature in the compartment back to normal, and de-ozonizing said air as it passes from said compartmentv to said chamber to avoid building up f the ozone concentration beyond la predetermined point.

3. The method of treating meat comprising holding the same in a, compartment, circulating the air from said compartment into and out of means for humidifying the same and maintaining it at a temperature of about 60 F. in order to hasten .tissue changes in said meat to alpoint of tenderness, and introducing into said air be- Vfore it is discharged from said chamber to said compartment a regulated proportion of ozonized dry air in order to inhibit the growth o1 molds and bacteria on said meat, and de-ozonizing the air as it passes from said compartment to said chamber for humidification and temperature control.

RUDOLPH NAGY.

HARVEY C. RENTSCHLER-` 

